Haunting Secrets
by Liza Jane
Summary: It is senior year for the Ducks. Nothing much had changed for the now Varisty hockey team. Except one on them has does a complete 360 and now hates playing hockey despite still being on the team. He gets into a bit of trouble and is sentanced to community
1. And so it begins

Hola. This is Liza Jane, and I am back on yay! This is my first Mighty Ducks story. I was babysitting the other night and thought about the idea. So here is the basic summary... 

_Its senior year at Eden Hall for the Ducks. Now the Varisty hockey team, nothing much had changed on the team...Except one of them has done a complete 360 and has gotten into trouble. Sentanced to community service for punishment, he is forced to face his past, which drives him further down the destructive path he was already on. New friends help him deal with a secret he has hidden from everyone for an entire year. Does he get his life back on track? Or does he reject help and let the secret ruin his life?_

Yeah. Sort of typical I know. But I promise. It is not a Mary-Sue! Gosh I hate those stories! Anyway...First two chapters are up. You know, trial run to see if anyone would be interested in the story. Like it? Hate it? Anywhere I can improve? Tell me. I can take criticism (just don't be too mean).

Story idea is mine! Please don't steal it! All characters outside of the Ducks circle of friends are mine, please don't steal them.

So read it, and tell me what you think. Enjoy!

Liza Jane

Oh yeah, and I know that this story would actually be taking place in the year 1999. But you know...since I don't remember much about that year, the story is set back then...But there are going to be current referances to pop culture. Just so you know :)

and now...onto the story!

* * *

Adam Banks sat in his car, which was parked outside of the Mid-Town Ice Arena. It was the place he had learned to skate at, it was there that he had played his first hockey games, it was where he practically grew up at. It was his home rink. It was a place he had not set foot in for nearly four years, and now he had to be there. 

Adam sat in the driver's seat of his black Jeep Grand Cherokee, still holding onto the steering wheel, wishing he was anywhere else in the world. The co-captain of the Varisty hockey team at Eden Hall Academy was now sentanced back to teach a "Learn to Skate Class" at the arena every Saturday until the end of the school year. Why? Well, it was complicated.

It was November of Adam's senior year of high school at Eden Hall. Some things hadn't changed over the past three years. The entire Ducks team was still there, and now all promoted up to the Varisty hockey team at their school. They were still coached by Orion, and they were still one heck of team. Not much had changed with his teammates. Charlie was still captain of the team. Julie and Goldberg were still fighting over who would be the starting goalie for each game. Russ still had the knuckle puck, and was the best trash-talker on the team (and commonly getting in trouble for it.) Luis was still the fastest skater on the team. Dwayne still liked to mess around with the puck more than he should. Ken still liked to combine figure skating and hockey, and pull off some crazy moves in games. Connie and Guy were still coming out of nowhere in games and scoring when the team was behind. Fulton and Portman were still the 'Bash Brothers".

Yeah. Everything was good. Nothing had changed. For any of them.

But Adam had.

Adam had changed drastically over the past year. He still went to practice, still was the MVP of several games, still played hockey. But hated every minute he was on the ice. Last year, Adam was a good kid. He didn't smoke or drink. He was invovled in a tutoring program with a local grade school. And was a typical goodie goodie. At least until he started hanging out with the "wrong crowd". Yes! As shocking as it is...Eden Hall had its share of the trouble makers. Basically it was a bunch of rich kids who were trying to do everything they could to get kicked out, but the school didn't grant it to them. Adam ended up hanging out with them more and more as the year went on. And slowly pushed away from his fellow Ducks. Instead of hanging out with his teammates on the weekends, he spent his weekends getting wasted and waking up in a random girl's dorm room. Nothing he was actually proud of doing. But he did it, and he wasn't about to stop. It was the usual good kid gone bad story. But Adam's story was different. He had a secret. A secret that maybe three people knew about. He wasn't about to tell anyone else about, or do anything about it. He didn't admit it, but he knew it was ruining his life.

Adam sighed heavily as turned off the car. He stared blankly at his feet for another five minutes. He wanted nothing more than to have a plane fall onto the ice arena. He didn't want to go in there. There were nothing more but memories that would come swarming back to haunt him.

The annoying alarm on Adam's watch went off. He had been sitting in the parking lot for the past twenty six minutes. He sent the alarm on his watch to tell him when he had to go in there.

Adam turned off the alarm and sighed at his leaned his head back on the head rest. Unless he wanted to get in even more trouble, he had to go in there now. He opened the car door and got out, still wishing for that falling plane to come down from the sky.

Why was Adam there? Well, he had gotten into a bit of trouble with the police. Adam had never had the best temper, and it had gotten worse over the past year. He had also the habit of getting into a fight with everyone who happened to say something to make him mad.

Adam and his "group" were hanging out at Burger King when a group of public school kids came in. One of them happened to say very loudly, "Look at those rich boys", and Adam went off. He followed the kid out to the parking lot. To make a long story short, the Burger King's manager called the police, and Adam was sentanced to 250 hours of community service for public disturbance. Dean Buckley had taken the honor of assigning Adam his community service. Which was to help teach the learn to skate classes at the Mid-Town arena every Saturday morning. He made sure it was spaced out so that Adam's punishment was no more sleeping in on Saturdays. Dean had also talked to the manager of the ice arena, and they were to give a full report of Adam's behavior while teaching. Meaning that if he merely muttered the word, "fuck" or "shit", mouthed off, or was late...he would have a week worth of detention ahead of him. Which would lead to him missing hockey, and even though he now hated hockey, he couldn't loose his scholarship. Which was something that just couldn't happen.

Adam opened the trunk of his car and pulled out his skating bag. He threw it over his shoulder, shut the trunk, locked the car and slowly walked up to the door.

He had to hold his breath as he opened the door and walked through it. When he finally started to breath again, he smelled that smell. That smell of the ice. The smell his clothes were staided with when he was younger. He smiled lightly thinking about it, but soon started to frown again.

Not much had changed since the last time Adam had set foot in the ice arena. The walls were still covered with dark blue and white paint. Pictures of hockey players and figure skaters were still painted onto the wall. There was still a bullentian boards with upcoming events and news and such. There was still a pro shop with basically everything a skater could need in there. The skate rental desk was still there, and stocked with the brown rental skates. There were still the four ice rinks and the numerous locker rooms. Not much had changed there. Which did not help Adam's fear of being there.

Adam took a deep breath as he walked up to the front desk. A young girl wearing her hair in a ponytail and a blue polo shirt was typing something into the computer when he walked up. She looked at him and smiled polietly. "Can I help you?" She asked.

Adam sighed before saying, "I'm Adam Banks. And I am here to help out with the learn to skate classes." He told her.

* * *

Oh boy! What happens next? 


	2. Learning the Ropes

And so it continues!...

* * *

The girl gave him a weird look, almost like to say, "Why are you telling me this?" but she didn't say anything. She typed something into the computer and then looked at him again.

"Right." She said. "Hang on just one second." She then disappeared into the back room, where all the offices were for the managers and coaches and such.

Adam stood there and looked around. That plane was way too far behind schedule for his liking. He was actually going to have to teach kids how to skate.

"I hate kids." Adam thought. "I hate parents. Now I have to deal with both of them today. I hate this."

Adam once counted the number of times he hated something in one day. It was 34, and that was only the times he bothered to keep track.

"Adam?" He suddenly heard a voice behind him. It was a familar voice, and he knew who it was. He turned around to see the girl who taught him to skate, Beth Crawford.

Adam was slow to smile and reply. "Hi Beth." he said.

Beth smiled, the same smile she had when he first met her twelve years ago. Adam had always known how to skate, but when he wanted to play hockey when he was six, his parents began to take him to the arena for real skating lessons. Beth was sixteen at the time, and one of the best skaters at the rink. Despite being twenty eight now, she was still in great shape, and wore her dirty blonde hair in a ponytail.

"So what are you doing back here?" She asked.

Adam hesistated, after all, this was the first girl he ever had a crush on, and the girl who always watched his pee-wee games when his parents weren't there, and had been like a big sister to him his entire life. "I'm...I'm here to help with the learn to skate classes." He told her.

"Yeah I know. Just thought I'd ask." Beth told him, still smiling.

"You knew?" Adam asked.

"Of course. I practically sleep here, you didn't think I wouldn't know about the newest skate coach, would you?" She asked.

"Guess not." He said. "Did you finally put a bed in the locker room?" He asked, it had been an inside joke of theirs for a long time. Beth used to be at the rink for practically eight hours a day (and apparently still was), and she would always joke about putting a bed in one of the locker rooms so she didn't have to drive home at night.

"No..." She said, but then laughed. "I do have a sleeping bag in my office though."

Adam laughed. "You have an office now?" He asked.

"Yep. Director of skating." She said. "Still coaching. But my competitive days are pretty much over."

Beth had gone to Nationals and medaled twice when she was younger. She used to love to compete. But she always said she liked coaching better. So apparently thats all she was doing now.

Adam stared at the ground a second. "So, you're like, my boss or something?" He asked.

"Don't say it like its a bad thing." Beth said. "I know you got into a little trouble, but you're 'punishment won't be as bad as you were thinking it would be."

Adam nodded. He couldn't believe that he suddenly felt extremely guilt about what he had done. Funny how someone he hadn't seen in so long could make him feel so bad. But in a way he was happy that Beth was the one who was his overseer.

"Come on, I'll show you to the coachs room." Beth told him.

Adam followed Beth through the arena, and to the area he had never been allowed to go to when he was younger. The Coach's Room. Of course, when Adam got into the room, it was actually no different than a regular locker room.

"Here's you locker, and combination." Beth said as she handed him a piece of paper. "You change into your skates, I'm going to try to find you an instructors jacket." She said. "Come out to the rink at exactly 9:25. Classes start at 9:30 and coaches are not allowed to be late. Especially you." She said, trying to sound threating.

"Yes ma'am." He said.

"EW!" Beth squealed. "You did not just call me that!"

Adam thought a moment, then laughed. "I'm sorry!" He said. He forgot that Beth hated being called ma'am more than anything else. It made her feel old.

Beth laughed. "Its okay. But next time, you're in trouble." She told him.

"Okay." He said. "I'll be on the ice on time...I promise Beth."

"Thats more like it." Beth said and then left the room.

Adam sat on the bench in the middle of the room and began to put his skates on. He was happy that Beth was there, but he still wished he was picking up trash on the highway, or painting a fence at a park or something.

The door swung open a minute later when Adam was lacing up his skate. He didn't bother to look up, but whoever it was was wearing black figure skates. That meant one thing, a male figure skater.

"Oh joy. I am standing alone in a room with a gay dude." Adam thought bitterly.

Despite the fact that Adam was good friends with Ken, and knew that Ken wasn't gay, every other male figure skater he ever met seemed to be a complete flamer. He did not like male figure skaters in the least bit.

Adam continued to lace up his skates, hoping to avoid eye contact with the other guy. He was almost done lacing up his skate when the guy asked.

"Haven't seen you around here," the figure skater said. "Are you new?"

"Sort of." Adam mumbled. He was relieved that the guy at least didn't sound gay with a high pitched voice.

The guy opened his locker and pulled out a jacket. "Oh, well...Teaching is really easy. So, don't be too worried about it."

"I'm not." Adam said curtly. He then stood up and looked at the guy. He was tall and just as muscular, if not more so, than Adam was. He didn't look gay...In fact, he actually looked really familar. But Adam couldn't remember where he had seen him.

"I'm Shane by the way." The guy said as he closed his locker and extended his hand out to Adam.

Adam looked at his hand, then back at Shane. He smirked, and then turned to walk out of the coach's room. Afterall, he wasn't about to make friends with a person who actually enjoyed waking up early on a Saturday to teach five year olds how to ice skate.

Adam waked over to the ice. He took off his guards and stepped onto the ice at exacly 9:25 like Beth had told him to. He saw he standing over at the barrier while other instructors in blue jackets were setting up cones on the ice.

Beth looked up and smiled at Adam. "Hey Adam." She then handed him a jacket.

Adam looked at it. It was blue with a silver lining on it, like every other instructors jacket. On the back it said, "Mid-Town Ice Arena" in white lettering. On the front in white letter on the upper left side it spelled out the "Riley" on it. Adam put it on, to have it be way too small. Obvisously, Riley was a girl.

"Um...Beth..." Adam started, when he realized there was no way the jacket was going to fit him. Who was Riley? She had to be a size double zero to fit into this jacket.

Beth laughed when she looked at Adam in the extremely small jacket. "I'm sorry. Thats the only one we have right now." She said. "I ordered you one, but it hasn't come in yet."

Suddenly there was the sound of someone skating extremely fast, and it was coming towards them. Adam turned in a nick of time to see the figure skating guy, Shane, skating towards them, and then stop when he was an inch away from Beth.

"Shane! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that!" Beth playfully scolded.

"A lot more times." He flirted back.

A small bit of jealousy overcame Adam. This Shane boy was not supposed to be "flirting" with Beth, he was. But he didn't say anything.

Beth laughed. "Oh Shane. This is going to be your coaching partner today." She pointed to Adam. Shane turned and looked at Adam. "Shane McFarland...meet Adam Banks."

Adam was not sure what to do. He had been extremely rude to Shane not but five minutes before, what was he supposed to say?

"We've met." Shane said, then looked at Adam and chuckled. "Nice jacket."

"Thanks." Adam replied in a smart ass tone.

Shane looked at Beth again. "Riley's jacket was the only one you could find?" He asked.

"Yeah. I ordered one for Adam, but it won't get here till Tuesday." He said.

"Who's Riley?" Adam asked.

Shane looked at him. "The girl who usually helps me coach." He said.

"You don't mind, do you Shane?" Beth asked. "You can either teach by yourself, or with Adam and show him the ropes. Or I can do it."

"Nah, I'll do it." Shane said as he looked at Adam and smirked. "I show him how things go around here."

"Okay." She laughed again. "Adam, its okay...You don't have to wear that." She then handed him something else. It was a name tag that he was supposed to wear around his neck. "Be sure to wear that this week, and then you can wear your own jacket next week. Okay?"

"Okay." Adam said. "And thank you."

Beth looked at the clock. "All right. Its 9:30...Get to work boys." She told the too.

Shane picked up a clip board from the barrier. "Come on hockey boy." He said to Adam and then began to skate towards the other end of the rink.

Adam followed him, wanted to stab him with his own skate. His sensitive temper was fuming, but he couldn't do anything.

* * *

How does the first lesson go? Does Adam punch Shane?...I know! And I am writing chapter three right now! RR! Thanks. 


	3. Not my thing

Adam followed Shane to the end of the rink. He stopped right next to him. Not at all happy about having to learn how to coach from this guy, who he had already didn't like.

"What now?" Adam asked Shane as he was looking at the clip board.

"Easy. When the kids come over, they are wearing name tags. You read the name tag, and then put a check by their name." Shane told him.

"How many kids are in this class?" Adam asked.

"Nine." Shane said.

"Wow." Adam said, sounding scastic, but really wondering what the hell he was in for.

"Yep." Shane said. "And don't worry. You won't have to answer any questions or anything. Just demonstrate maybe. But other than that, just watch me and listen. All right?"

"Okay." Adam said.

Kids wearing the brown rental skates and gloves began to get onto the ice. Adam was getting major flashbacks to when he was just like them. Eager and bursting with energy, wanting nothing more than to get to see his coach and learn how to skate.

Shane smacked the clipboard into Adam's chest. Adam grabbed it and looked at Shane, wanting nothing more than to hit him. "First test, take attendence." He told him.

Adam glared at Shane as he skated off. He went right over to a little girl in a pink skating dress and said, "Hey Janna." He said as he picked her up by her armpits and spun her around.

Adam "passed" his first test. He corrected checked off the names of the nine kids in the class, and then handed the clipboard back to Shane. "I think I passed the test, Yoda." He said.

"Good." He said. "Now come on. We are going to work on stroking."

Adam continued to watch Shane teach the group of ten year old boys and girls. They worked on stroking, forward and backward crossovers, hockey stops, one foot glides, three turns, and lounges. Shane would constantly pick on Adam and make him demonstrate, and then tell the kids what was Adam had done wrong. Adam went to fast, and then he went to slow. Adam had no idea what I three turn was, and he wasn't exactly flexible and could not do a very good lounge. He knew Shane was doing this too get under his skin, and it was working.

"Okay guys. Free skate!" Shane said. "See everyone next week."

The kids all smiled and waved to Shane as they skated off. The lesson was over and now they got to skate around do whatever.

"Nice job." Shane said, obvisously mocking him.

"You're an idiot." Adam mumbled.

Shane looked at him. "You know. I know you hate this whole community service thing...But lighten up. It really isn't that bad." He said.

"Shows how much you know." Adam said.

Shane shrugged. "Okay. But look, if you need any help...I can help you. I've been doing this for the past four years." He said.

"Nice. Do you want an award or something." Adam said.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Shane said. "Nice meeting you Adam. I'll see you later."Shane then skated off and was swarmed by a group of three girls, who were also coaches there. Obvisously he was Mr. Popular at the rink.

Adam skated over to the barrier, and jumped onto it. His legs daggled off the board and he swung them back and forth. Beth came over to him a few minutes later with another coach who looked a bit younger than him.

"How was the first lesson?" She asked.

"Fine." Adam said, looking at the girl. "Who's that?" He asked, nodding to her.

"Glad you asked." Beth said. She then pushed the girl towards Adam. "Adam, this is Heather."

Adam scarastically smiled and said, "Hi."

Beth continued, "Adam, Heather is going to be your coaching partner for the next set of lessons." She told him.

Heather smiled. "Hi." She said as she blushed lightly.

"Oh great...First I get to coach with a gay guy, and next I get to coach with a little school girl who will giggle at everything I say. Shoot me now!" He thought to himself.

Beth must have read his mind. "Hey Heather, will you go and collect the clipboards for me?" She asked.

"Sure will." Heather said as she turned and skated off. Tripping on her toepick causing her to blush again before she skated out of ear shot.

Beth looked at her former student turned juvenille dilinquint (sp?) and hopped up onto the barrier sitting next to him. "Adam, whats wrong?" She asked.

Adam knew he couldn't lie to Beth, she could practically read his mind. "Beth, I don't like being here." Adam said with a sigh. "Too many memories, too many kids..." he began, and had to swallow.

Beth took over, she knew what he was going to say. "Adam, I know you probably have much better things to be doing right now...But I hate to say it kid, you could be doing some other community service with much worse managers. You are lucky." She told him. "You at least need to try to make the best out of it." She then added with a light laugh, "I mean I know I am going to enjoy this...I've missed seeing you around here."

Adam knew what she was saying was true but didn't want to hear it. "I can't teach. I can't be around kids. I hate kids." He told her. Noticing how much of a five year old her sounded like, but didn't care.

Beth looked straight ahead. "Adam...I know why you hate being here." She said to the air in front of her. "I know kid. I know everything."

Adam blinked and swallowed again. "How?"

Beth chuckled. "I still talk to your family. I know more than you think I do." She told him. "I know I haven't seen you much for the past four years...But I am still here for you, just like I was when you were fourteen and needed a ride home or help with your science homework."

Adam swung his legs around to the other side of the barrier and jumped onto the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm never going to be able to..." He began.

Beth cut him off. "Adam, its okay." She put her hand on his shoulder. "Go to the coach's room and take a break." She told him. "Be back out here at 10:55 and meet up with Heather to teach the next class. We'll talk later , okay?"

"Kay." Adam nodded and jumped off the barrier. "Thanks."

"And remember...I still the same Beth as I was four years ago...Don't hesitate if you need anything." She told him. "I'm still here for you."

Adam nodded and walked off to the coach's room.

Damn. The stupid secret he had been hiding from everyone apparently wasn't so well hidden.

"Why can't I be happy that Beth is my manager?" He asked himself as he walked towards the locker room. "Why am I doing this to myself?"

Adam debated whether or not to go punch Shane so that he would be reassigned another place for community service.

"Can we go to the park today?" Adam heard a little boy's voice.

The boy's father was helping him unlace his rental skates and laughed. "I don't know. We'll see." He told his son.

"Can I stay here and skate all day?" The boy asked.

"No. But we will be back next week."

Adam swallowed hard as he saw the father and son chit-chat going on. He stopped and watched them for a moment, but when the little kid hugged his father, he got a bad feeling in his stomach. He felt phsyically sick and ran to the coach's room. Thankfully it was empty as Adam ran into the bathroom.

Adam spalshed cold water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. He hated his reflection. He hated himself. He hated the person he had become. And most of all, he hated that he was too weak to do anything about it.

The door opened a minute later. Adam grabbed a paper towel and wiped off his face. He looked in the mirror to see Shane standing in the backround.

"You okay?" Shane asked, noticing how pale Adam's face was.

"Prefectly fine." Adam replied as he thew away the paper towel.

Shane stood in his way. "I saw you run in here...Are you..." He began.

"Look skater boy...I'm not here to make friends. I'm here cause I have to be. So do me a favor and leave me alone." Adam told him firmly. He then pushed Shane out of the way and walked past him. 

"Its something called being poliet." Shane yelled after him. "You should try it sometime tough guy."

Adam slammed the door behind him as he left the room. Man, for a gay guy, Shane certainly had a fighting spirit to him.

Adam wandered around until 10:50, at that time, he went and got back on the ice. He saw Heather and skated over to her.

"Hi." He said.

Heather blushed again. "Hi." She said. "You get to help me teach the Basic 8 class."

"Wow. Basic 8." Adam said, humoring her.

Heather gave him a weird look, then asked. "Do you go to Eden Hall?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied.

"I'm going there next year." She told him. "My sister is a senior this year."

"Nice." Adam said.

"Yeah...You might know her. She skates too...But she is at a competition this weekend..." She went on.

Adam zoned out while Heather talked about her sister. He honestly didn't care. He didn't know any senior girl who was a competitive figure skater. And if he didn't know her, he didn't care to meet her. He had his circle of friends, and rarely ventured into other cliques.

Heather kept talking, and Adam wanted to make her stop. So he picked up the clipboard and looked at it. "Do you want me to take role when the kids get here?" He asked.

"Um...Sure." She said, looking a bit upset he apparently didn't care that she was talking. She then looked at the sheet of paper and pointed to the bullets under the headline of "Skill to Learn." "Do you know what any of those are?" She asked.

Adam looked at the bullet points. "No." He said, looking at the words that looked like they were written in Greek, he had no clue what they meant.

"Okay..." She said, and then paused a moment. "Um...Well...We work on other stuff...like crossovers. But..."

Adam looked at her. "Can't you just show me what they are?" He asked. "We have a few minutes."

Heather's eyes lite up. "Okay." She said, and then skated forward. "A three turn is basically changing from one edge to another..." And then she started to show him how to do everything. Adam sighed, he could never teach this stuff.

"Thanks." Adam said, as she finished. "I don't think I am going to be much help today though." He told her.

"Its okay. I pretty much have a handle on everything." She said.

Adam leaned against the wall. "You figure skate?" He asked.

"Yeah." Heather said, her eyes sparkled when he asked her.

"How long?" He asked.

"Since I was three..." She said. "I've been skating for twelve years. I only started cause my sister skated."

"The same sister that goes to my school?" Adam asked.

"Yep. Riley...I think you were wearing her jacket earlier." She told him. "I can't believe you don't know her! You'll meet her next week."

"Can't wait." Adam lied.

The kids started to come over and the class began. Adam thought it was cool that Heather was so good with the kids. They all seemed to love her. And she did a nice job teaching.

"Okay guys! Free skate!" Heather said as the half hour was up. "See you next week!"

The kids started to skate off. Heather called a couple things out to them as they skated off. Like, "Jenny, be sure to work on that spin!" or "Tommy, remember to work on your waltz jump." and other little reminders.

Adam saw the look of pure joy on her face as she watched the kids skate off, and smiled to himself. "You really like this don't you?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I do." Heather said with a smile.

Adam laughed lightly. "I wish I could feel that way about this coaching thing." Adam said.

Heather shrugged. "Its not for everyone." She said. "I mean, maybe you could file paperwork instead of coach."

"Maybe I can." Adam said, thinking it was actually a good idea. "Well, thanks for letting me sit in on this class."

"No problem. Come sit in on any class." Heather told him, letting the words fly out of her mouth like they were nothing, but Adam heard a sense of nervous-ness in her voice as she said it.

"Will do." Adam said as he then waved a peace sign and skated off.

Adam sighed as he stepped off the ice. Day one of community service was over. So far he had seen someone from the past, and met a gay guy who was the most popular guy at the rink and a shy fifteen year old that had a crush on him. The next several Saturdays were going to be very interesting.

Adam had his hand on the door when he heard someone call his name. He turned to see Beth at the door to the rink, waving at him to come back.

Adam was confused. He thought he was done.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Adam, I need you to talk to you after this free skate." beth told him. "Meet me in my office after you take off your skates."

Adam nodded. "Will do." he said again.

Adam left the ice again. Was he in trouble already? Man, all he wanted to do was go home. 


	4. A Day in the Life of Adam

Adam sat in Beth's office, waiting for his doom. He was constantly in the office of an authoritive (sp?) person, mainly at school. But man! It was his first day, Beth was already mad at him. 

Adam started to bite his nails. He stared at the clock, and then would look out the door whenever he heard a noise in the hall.

Adam pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began text messaging his friend, Nick. He was caught off guard when he looked up and noticed Beth standing in the doorway looking at him.

He immediately closed his phone and looked back down at the floor. Then breathed a sigh of relief when he heard he laugh.

"Were you text messaging a girlfriend?" She teased him as she sat down behind her desk.

Adam shook his head. "No. No...Definately not." He laughed, since it was actually a guy he was text messaging.

"Adam...Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Beth told him a moment later. She then pulled out a manilla folder. "I just have to go through the whole rules and regulations and boring stuff."

Adam breathed a sigh a relief. "Thank God." He muttered under his breath.

"Okay. You come in, and you sign this sheet," she showed him a piece of paper, "you write what time you got here. Then you go to coaching room, change into your skates, and be on the ice at least five minutes before the class starts."

"I can do that." Adam said. "I'm not going to have my own class next week, am I?"

"Not yet." Beth told him. "You can continue to be a coach's assisant."

"I don't think that coaching is my thing." Adam said. "Can I like, sharpen skates instead, or file paper work."

Beth shook her head before he even finished his sentance. "Adam, I don't care if you stand on the ice staring at the wall. But your principal was very specfic about wanting you to coach. And so that is what you are going to do. Even if you are just acting like you are helping someone coach."

Adam frowned, and bit his nails again. "Okay." He mumbled.

"And I promise, you and Shane will never coach together again." She told him.

Adam came very close to smiling. "It was that obvisous huh?"

"You had that look on your face." Beth laughed.

"What look?" Adam asked.

"That look you used to get when you didn't want your mom to help you take off your skates. Or when someone scored a goal while you were on defense." Beth told him. "That look when you just want to be somewhere else."

"I didn't know I had a look like that." Adam said.

Beth smiled. "You're talking to your big sister here." She reminded him.

"How could I forget?" he asked.

Beth laughed. She then continued to go over all the rules of the rink. How he had to actually stay on the ice during free skate. He had to actually talk to parents if they approach him (joy). And blah blah blah.

Adam was extremely happy when he was allowed to leave the building and go back to his dorm. He wanted to sleep!

Adam walked up to the room and opened the door. His friend, Nick Williams (guy he was texting), was sitting at his desk.

"Hey." Nick said as he looked up at Adam for a minute and then went back to writing something down.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked as he shut the door behind him.

"Homework." Nick said, not looking away from the piece of paper.

"Really?" Adam asked, a little shocked. Nick and homework were not the best of friends.

Nick shrugged. "Copying homework." He said, being a bit more clear.

Adam threw down his bag and then fell onto the bed. "Man, I hate coaching." He shouted as he stretched on his bed.

Nick laughed. "I already heard that...Text messaging." He said.

"You wouldn't believe it! I had to help this fifteen year old girl and a gay guy coach." He said, smacking his forehead. "I wanted to leave the second I got there."

"Man, that sucks." He said. "On the plus side...Hilary Green is throwing a party tonight. And we are on the guest list!"

Adam smiled. Hilary was the most popular, and rich girl in school that he had been trying to hook up with for a long time. "All right. Maybe tonight is the night." He said.

"Lets hope so." Nick said. "You are getting pretty desperate."

"I am not." Adam said as he threw a pillow at his friend.

Monday morning rolled around all too soon for Adam. Saturday night went just as he hoped, and he woke up a very happy guy. Too bad he had forgotten about the hockey practice Orion had scheduled for Sunday. He thought his head was going to explode as Charlie pounded on his dorm room door at 11:45. Despite the fact that Adam barely talked to him anymore, Charlie constantly was trying to talk to Adam and made sure that he went to practice, and was basically a pain in the butt.

After a painful practice on Sunday afternoon, Adam went to go see his "tutor", Haylee, who was just the girl who gave him all the answers to his homework because she had a crush on him, and then he went and fell asleep until his alarm clock went off at 6:30 on Monday morning.

Adam went to school and did what he did everyday in school...Nothing. He sat in the back of his class next to one of the guys in his posse, and if he wasn't sleeping he would make fun of the teacher, flirt with the girls around him, and then went onto the next class.

Adam had a little bounce in his step when he walked to hockey practice. Everyone in school had been talking about the new "It" couple, who happened to be him and Hilary. Just like he had wanted for the past month. Not to mention, it was the same girl that Portman had dated earlier in the year, and couldn't wait to say something about it.

Adam skated around the ice rink to warm up while the team waited for Orion to show up. When he went out to center ice to stretch while he waited, Portman came over a minute later.

"Hey Banks, I hear you and Hilary Green are now going out." Portman said in a sly, yet some what hurting tone.

"Yep. Sure am." Adam said, with a smirk. "She is one great catch, don't know why anyone would have dumped her."

Portman shrugged. "Yeah, I guess thats the kind of girl you like." Portman then turned and skated over to Julie, who instantly smiled and started flirting with the Bash Brother.

Adam rolled his eyes. "The kind of girl I like? What is that supposed to mean?" He thought. He had to take a deep breath and count to ten so he wouldn't go and punch Portman. If he did, he would be kicked off the hockey team, which was something that could not happen. Hockey was the only thing that Adam controlled his temper for, for at least most of the time.

Adam was more than thrilled when he looked in the stands during practice and saw Hilary watching him practice. Even more when Portman "accidently" ran into him while doing sprints. It was a fall that Adam wasn't upset about taking.

After practice, Adam had his tough guy smile on his face as he walked out of the ice rink with Hilary on his arm.

"So...how was you're day?" Hilary asked as the two walked through the parking lot over to Adam's jeep.

"It was a day." Adam said, he then leaned over and kissed Hilary and smiled. "But it has gotten so much better now that I am with you."

Hilary smiled and flipped her hair. "I am so lucky to be dating the hottest guy on the hockey team." She said very loudly as the two passed Portman and Julie.

"And I am so lucky to be dating the most beautiful girl in school." Adam told her.

Hilary giggled. "I'm sure you say that to every girl you have dated."

Adam shook his head. "I never say what I don't mean." He told her, and recieved a kiss from Hilary for it.

It was a lie. It was all a lie. Adam honestly didn't like her at all. But she was one of the most popular girls in school, and that was one of the girls that Adam's crew hung out with. She was blonde, skinny, long-legged, big boobed, and easy. She was somewhat cute, but Adam knew what she was like. He knew she was going to be hanging around him for another week, and then dump him, make her friends hate him, and then move an to another one of his friends. It was how those girls worked. Adam knew it, but he didn't care.

Adam and Hilary got into his car and drove over to the back parking lot behind the gym. It was where Adam's friends and their girlfriends hung out. Many of the girls around school only wished they could hang out in the back lot for a week. There really was nothing stopping them. Other than that everyone back there was paired up, and constantly making out with one another if they weren't skateboarding or doing burn outs in their cars.

"Banks!" Gaven Sharp yelled as Adam pulled up with the windows rolled down and the stereo blasting. How Adam was able to hear Gave yell, he wasn't quite sure.

Adam backed into a parking spot next to his friend's white Honda Prelude at the end of the lot. He then got out of the car and ran over to his friends. "Heeeeey!" Adam yelled as he approached his friends.

"Baaaaaaanks." Evan Carson yelled back as he threw him a pack of cigerettes. "We got your favorites."

Adam smiled as he looked down at the box of Reds in his hands. He pulled one out and lit it.

"Where's Hilary?" Gaven asked.

Adam looked around. He then looked back to his car and saw that Hilary was still sitting in the passengers seat of his car, glaring at him. Adam rolled his eyes as he walked back over and opened the door for her.

"What was that for?" Hilary asked.

Adam sighed. "I'm sorry." He said. "I was craving a cigerette. My mind was a bit on a one way track."

Hilary folded her arms. "Don't let it happen again." She told him. She then walked over to the group of girls in the lot. Of course, they were all friends.

Adam walked back over to his friends. There was the usually group, Gaven, Evan, Derek Turner, Mike Saunders, Ben Zimmerman, and Nate Doyle. They were all known as the bad boys of the school. All the other guys were somewhat scared of them, and all the girls thought they were cute, yet knew to stay away from them.

"So Banks...You never told us about the whole skating thing. How was it?" Ben asked as his girl of the week, Nicole came over to him.

"Oh it was great. Hanging around homeschooled rejects and gay guys and little kids on a Saturday, I am going to shoot myself before too long." Adam said as Hilary appeared at his side. Suddenly all the girl's were standing around in their little smoking circle.

"That sucks." Mike said as he dropped his cigerette butt and smashed it into the ground.

"Isn't there a girl there that coaches that goes here?" Suzanne, Gaven's girlfriend asked him.

"Thats what I heard. But I didn't meet her." Adam said as he wrapped his arm around Hilary's shoulder.

"I know who it is." Mike's girlfriend, Christine said. "Its that girl, Riley Mason."

Hilary gave her a weird look. "Who's that?" She asked.

"That girl in our English class who always knows everything." Christine told her.

"And always kills the curve on those tests." Nicole added. "I don't like her."

Ben laughed. "Of course you don't. You hate everyone." He teased her.

"I hate everyone but you." Nicole said with a giggle and then kissed his ear.

Adam had remembered Heather saying something about her sister going to school. He hadn't thought much about it. He had a feeling she was a straight A type student who never got into trouble. Afterall, he had never heard of her. And from what the girls were saying, he was right. Of course this means that now he was going to be spending Saturday mornings with her from now until the end of the years. Yay. Yet another perk.

The gang continued to hang out in the back lot. As usual, no teachers came by, no one outside of their group came by, and they did not do anything but mess around for nearly four hours before they finally all went back to their dorms at around 9:30.

After walking Hilary to her dorm and a little fooling around, Adam went back to his dorm room. He sat up and talked to Nick for a little while before going to sleep, and continuing the cycle of his daily life, which he still hated everything about.

* * *

Aight! Chapter five will be up soon. Adam and this Riley girl will finally meet. How does Adam's second day of coaching go? You'll find out soon enough. :) Until then...Peace! 


	5. Riley

Adam pulled into the ice arena's parking lot. He was still half awake. He had gone out with Hilary the night before and didn't get back to his dorm until about 4:00 am. He wouldn't have even woken up had Nick not hit him with a pillow for not turning off the alarm clock. 

Adam stumbled into the ice arena and went straight to the front desk to sign in. Then he ran into the coaches room to change his skates, and got onto the ice just in time for the lessons to start. He looked around and didn't see Beth anywhere.

"You're late." He heard behind him. He turned around to see his favorite coach standing there, Shane."

Adam rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks. I didn't know that." He said.

"Beth is in her office, probably calling your principal." Shane sneered. "Its not a good idea to stay out all night and then show up late when you are sentanced to community service."

Adam shot him a look. "How the hell do you know where I was last night?" He asked.

Shane smirked. "I have my ways." He told him. He then smirked again when he looked over at the boards. "Doom's day." He said, and then skated off.

Adam turned around to see Beth getting onto the ice. He held his breath as he watched her skate over to him.

"You're late." Beth told him, her usual happy voice was gone in exchange for a rather stern tone.

"I'm sorry." Adam said. "My alarm didn't go..."

"Adam don't lie to me." Beth told him. "I'll talk to you later. After this skating lesson, meet me in my office. For now, you can help Heather coach again."

Adam hung his head and nodded. He watched Beth skate off with an angry look on her face. He shook his head and then pushed off to go join Heather.

"Hey." Adam said quietly as he skated to Heather.

Heather looked up, and practically dropped her clip board when she saw him standing there. "Um, Adam...Hi." She said as she went back to taking roll.

Heather put the clip board back onto the board and then looked at her students. "Okay guys. This is Adam and he is going to be helping me today."

All six kids, who looked about eight or so, looked at him and waved. Adam smiled back.

Adam stood there watching Heather coach for the next half hour. He hated it as the minutes came down to "doom's day" again. He wasn't happy.

"Okay guys!" Heather yelled. "Free skate! I'll see you next week."

Adam stood there by the boards. Not wanting to move. Heather came over and picked up the clipboard next to his arm.

"Whats wrong?" Heather asked.

"Nothing." Adam said.

"Nothing seems pretty upsetting." Heather told him.

Adam shrugged. "I was late...and I'm in trouble." Adam admited a moment later.

Heather looked at him a minute. "Yeah...I had a feeling. I saw Beth talking to you earlier." She said. "You didn't look too happy."

Adam sighed. "Yeah...I'm not exactly wanting to talk to her right now." He said.

"Well...You better go sooner than later." Heather advised.

"Yeah I know." Adam said as he skated off.

"Good luck!" Heather called after him.

Adam stopped a second. There was something about the sweetest in her voice that sounded very sincere, and almost like someone actually cared about him. He turned and smiled at her, even though she had already gone off to help some little kid with something.

Adam kept the small smile on his face until he walked back to Beth's office. He knew that he was in big trouble. He slowly walked into the room where Beth was sitting at her computer.

Beth looked up and saw him standing there. "Hello." She said. "Take a seat."

Adam had heard that line so many times at school before. And he knew that trouble was coming. He sat down in the chair, trying not to look upset.

Beth stared at the computer screen for minute. Then she shifted in her chair and looked at Adam. "You were late." She told him a moment later.

"I know. I'm sorry." Adam said. He didn't know what the big deal was...He was there to the class on time. So what if he wasn't on the ice 5 minutes early?

"Sorry you were late, sorry you lied, or sorry that I'm not going to let this slide?" Beth asked.

Adam had never heard Beth sound so angry. He didn't know what to say to her question. He just sat there.

"I know you don't want to coach. But you have to be here. You have to arrive on time, and you have to treat this like a real job." Beth told him firmly. "You just used your 'Get Out of Jail Free' card...and there's only one in the deck. Pull this again, and I will call Dean Buckley."

Adam bit his lower lip. He was five minutes late! He didn't miss the class, he helped Heather, and he didn't punch Shane! He wanted to throw the chair against the wall.

"I know you hate me right now. And thats okay." Beth said. She turned back to her computer. "You can go now."

Adam stood up and walked back over to the ice rink. Now the majority of the ice had cleared except for a few kids and coaches.

Adam took a deep breath as he stepped out onto the ice. He pushed off and shoved his hands into his pockets, holding both of them in tight fists. He slowly stroked around the rink. Then again half way around, picked up the pace a little bit, gradually getting faster and faster. He soon took his hands out of his pockets and flew around the rink so fast that he could have sworn he broke a new speed skating record. Thankfully, no one got in his way.

Adam skid to a halt by the barrier. He put his hands to his knees and tried to catch his breath. His face was red, his eyes were filling with tears, and he still wanted to punch something. Sometimes the speed skating helped his anger, and sometimes it didn't. This was one of the times that it didn't.

Adam slowly lifted up his head, his side hurt badly, he wanted to spit, and he felt like he could drink a whole bottle of water in about five seconds. He closed his eyes and grabbed his side as he quietly winced in pain. When he opened his eyes, he was almost embarrassed to see Heather standing there.

"Hi." Adam said, still short of breath.

Heather smiled lightly. "There's a trash can right there," she pointed to a spot behind the barrier.

Adam nodded. He went over and spit in it. He noticed that Heather looked away as he did so. He then wiped his forehead on his sheelve and sat down on the bench.

Heather stepped off the ice, and walked five feet over to him and handed him a bottle of water. "Here." She said as she sat down next to him. "Thought you might want this."

Adam took the Dasani bottle and opened it. He took a sip and then poured a little bit of it onto his head. "Thanks." He said a moment later.

Heather smiled and just sat there with him.

Adam took another sip of water and just sort of looked at Heather out of the corner of his eye. Why was she sitting there next to him? He barely spoke to her, or knew her at all. Why was she being nice to him?

Adam looked out onto the ice and saw...Shane...How he hated that boy. Not only was he showing off, but he was skating with a girl...A cute girl none the less.

Adam looked at the girl, almost shocked. She was tiny, probably about 5'3 at most without the skates and weighed maybe 100 pounds, 110 at most, but yet she still had curves. Her hair had obvisously dyed to a honey blonde color was highlights. She smiled and it seemed to light up the ice. (a/n: yeah yeah. i know she sounds like a mary-sue. but i swear she is not! she's just modeled after my old skating buddy. who actually inspired the story. so yeah.)

Shane took her hand and skated around her. He followed him and they did back crossovers hand in hand, he then pulled her closer to him and she lowered her hands to her hips. Shane then skid at he turned and threw the girl into the air.

Adam almost choked on the water that was in his mouth as he saw this tiny girl be thrown about six feet into the air and then spin around like six times. Sure he had seen girls skate before, but never be thrown like that.

Adam coughed and his eyes watered. He was able to see the girl land the jump and then be picked up and spun around by Shane. And then she kissed him...Right on the lips. The gay guy was just kissed by the most attractive girl on the ice. Life was so unfair.

"Heather...who is that?" Adam asked, pointing to the two, who were now skating forward doing hand in hand edges.

Heather smiled. "Thats Riley." She said proudly. "My sister."

Adam's jaw almost hit the ground. That girl was Heather's sister? They didn't look much alike. Heather was skinny; the unhealthy kind of skinny, not the thin kind of skinny. Her hair was a dark brown, and their facial features were not much alike. Although, their eyes and smiles were the same. No doubt both of them were attractive, but not exactly in the same way.

But still? Riley went to his school, and he never saw her? Was that possible? Did she wear a baseball hat and sunglasses at school? Adam couldn't believe that he had never seen her the whole four years he had been at that hell hole.

Adam watched as the two began to skate backwards together. This time he took her by the hips and threw her up over his head. She spun around in the air, then came back down and he caught her.

"They're pretty amazing...aren't they?" Heather asked him.

Adam nodded. "I honestly have never really watched people skate like that." He admited.

"They're amazing." Heather said. "They came in 5th at the US Nationals last year."

"Not bad." Adam said, some what impressed...with Riley. He still thought Shane was gay, and hated him.

"They practice after the learn to skate classes." Heather told him randomly. "If you ever wanted to stay and watch them practice."

Adam shrugged. "I might hang around to watch them sometime." He wasn't sure if he actually meant it though.

"We'd better get back onto the ice." Heather said. "You don't want to get in trouble again."

Adam looked up at the clock. It was in fact 5 minutes before the next lesson. "Good point." He then stood up and threw the water bottle in the trash can.

Heather smiled at him shyly as she followed him out of the box. She started to skate off, and Adam just smiled. She was very sweet, and he couldn't help but wonder why she was so nice to him.

Adam ended up helping a girl named Katie coach for the next session. She was older. About 24, and she was trying to be like Beth. But was not really as nice as Beth, more fake. And she didn't like Adam...But that was okay. He wasn't too wild about her either.

Adam was extremely excited when the session was over and he got to go take off his skates. He wiped off his skates, threw them into his bag, and walked out of the coach's room without even looking at another one of the coaches. He didn't want to see Beth.

Adam walked out to his car and put his bag into the trunk. He was about to get in the car and take off when he noticed that he wasn't wearing his watch. He quickly remembered that he took it off while coaching with Katie and put it on the barrier.

"Damn." he thought as he walked back into the arena. He mumbled under his breath and cursed at himself for having to to walk back into the building.

Adam pushed through the doors to the rink. He looked at the ice. There were three people on the ice. Riley, Shane and Beth. The ice was fresh, with barely any marks on it. The best sort of ice to skate on. Adam walked around the rink on the matting. He looked out onto the ice and saw Riley and Shane doing forward crossovers together. They broke apart and began doing turns in unison, then both tapped back with their foot and then sprung into the air, spun about three times and landed in complete unison. Adam almost tripped, he wasn't paying attention to walking, only the two skating. Okay...He was watching Riley.

Adam looked at the floor for a minute, so it wasn't obvisous he was watching them. But when he did look up again, he saw the two spinning together. It looked really...interesting.

Adam quickly found his watch, but took his time putting it on...So he could watch Riley.

Now the two were doing something where Shane was practically sitting, and pulling Riley in a circle. He watched as the two exited the element, and she tripped.

"Watch the exit!" Beth yelled from the side.

Adam stood up and began walking towards the exit again. He continued to walk and watch the two skate. They were now doing one of those huge overhead lifts that they completed with ease.

Adam noticed the two were skating towards the direction he was walking. He pretended to be looking at his watch when he looked up for a brief second at the two, who passed him on the other side of the barrier. Shane wasn't paying much attention to him...But he saw Riley look directly at him, and smile.

For the first time in a long time...Adam froze when a girl smiled at him. He watched them skate as they once again did another side by side jump.

Adam walked out of the building and out to his car. Smiling the entire time. He drove off...and could hardly wait till next Saturday, when he would see Riley again, and possibly help her coach.

* * *

what happens next? i'm working on it! oh yeah...and the secret...that will be told in later chapters. still building on it. don't worry. its coming! 


	6. Relief

I'm back. Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took soo long to update! Anyway...Enjoy.

* * *

"So then Ashley totally flipped out because Mandy was talking to Ben." Hilary told the entire lunch table. Adam sat at her side holding her hand, trying not to hit her for sounding so dumb with the completely idiotic story she was telling. "So now, both of them have a whole weeks worth of detention."

"Oh thats terrible." Adam said, acting interested.

Hilary nodded. "Isn't it though." She said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I love that you actually listen to me."

"I do what I can." Adam lied, wishing he could some how punch himself in the head, knock himself out, and stop listening to her.

Hilary turned to Suzanne and Christine and began talking about the winter dance coming up...In about two months.Adam sat there, wondering if he had an excuse to leave at that moment in time.

Adam scanned the cafeteria for Charlie. He couldn't remember if they had practice today after school, and even though he didn't care...It was an excuse to get away from the group.

"Hey...I gotta go make a call." Adam lied once he couldn't find Charlie in the crowd. He kissed Hilary quickly and then stood up. "I'll see you after school." And before Hilary could even say anything about going with him, he was half way out of the dining hall.

Adam pushed through the doors leading to the courtyard. The winter weather was setting in. Adam folded his arms ashe walked out to the middle of the courtyard. There was a tree there that Adam would constantly go to; It was his place. The tree was big enough that he could climb it and just sit there for hours with no one ever really noticing. Sure, some people could see him there, especially in the winter when the leaves were gone. But no one ever bothered him. He liked it. It was one of the only places to escape to in the entire school.

Adam grabbed onto the lowest branch and kicked his legs onto the trunk. He climbed the branches until he got up to his little perch about ten feet off the ground. He sat there for a moment. Man it was cold. Not really that cold, but since he was only wearing a sweatshirt that wasn't that warm, and a short sheevle shirt under it, he was cold. He made a mental note to start to wear his winter jackets since it was November anyway.

Adam sat there looking at the school. How he hated the place. Everything about it. The teachers, the people...everything. If he could meet one person that wasn't hung up on looks, clothes, being a bad ass, and money...It would be a miracle. Yeah...there were the Ducks. But there was another reason why he didn't want to hang out with them anymore. (The secret!)

He sighed...wishing he had a cigerette. That would be awesome. He had smoked so many cigerettes while up in that tree when it was dark out and no one would be able to nark on him for doing it. He looked at his watch...Twenty five minutes left until 6th period. It was prefect...He had time to relax and be alone.

"What are you doing up there?" He heard a voice call from below.

"None of your business." Adam yelled back...Not even looking down to see who it was. It was a girl's voice, probably one of Hilary's enemies who was going to try to seduce him and cause drama between him and Hilary. Not like he cared...But he wanted the next twenty two minutes to himself.

"You look cold." The girl called a moment later. "Want a jacket?"

"I don't need a girl's jacket." Adam said, wanting nothing more than this stupid girl to go away.

"Your voice is shaking!" She pushed. "And its not a girl's jacket."

Adam rolled his eyes. "If you give me the jacket...will you go away?" He asked, quite annoyed.

"Yes." She said. "I'll bring it up to you."

Adam laughed. "You sure you want to do that?" He mocked. "You might break a nail."

A jacket was thrown right at his face, bounced off and right into his lap. It was a familar looking jacket...The same kind that the coachs wore at Mid-Town. But this one had "Adam" sewn into the right side.

"I don't care about my nails too much." The girl said as she climbed onto the branch next to him.

Adam looked over at the girl. His jaw dropped when he saw who it was...Riley.

Adam tried to force some words out of his mouth. But his mouth was incredibly dry and nothing was leaving his mouth. He was very hot and embarrassed too. The first time he was talking to Riley, and he was a complete jackass.

Riley looked at him. "Put it on." She said a moment later.

Adam nodded. And put it on. It fit prefectly, and it was pretty warm. "Th...Thanks." He finally forced out of his mouth.

"You're welcome." Riley said with her light smile. "I saw you the other day at the rink. But I didn't get a chance to introduce myself." She put her hand out. "I'm Riley Mason."

Adam shook her hand, not breaking his stone face. "Adam Banks." He said.

"I know." Riley admitted. "I did have to sew your name into the jacket after all."

Adam looked at it. "You did that?" He asked.

Riley nodded. "I do all of the embrodering (sp?) for the jackets. It saves the rink fifteen dollars on each of the jackets."

"Well...Thank you." Adam said again.

Riley smiled. "You're welcome. Just don't loose it...Or Beth just might kill you." She joked. "I'll let you get back to...Your alone time."

"You can stay if you want." Adam said as she started to climb down.

Riley looked at him. "Are you sure?"

Adam nodded. "I never met a girl who would climb a tree to make sure I was warm." He said. "Stay a minute."

"Okay." Riley said. "Its not like its a new thing for me to climb trees though."

Adam looked at her. "Really?" He asked.

"Of course not. I used to climb the trees in our yard because my mother told me not to." Riley said with a light giggle. "I tore so many pairs of tights doing it."

Adam liked the sound of her voice, it was deeper than Hilary's...Basically it did not make him want to slam his head in a car door when she talked. He smiled when she laughed. He noticed that she was wearing just a little bit of make-up, instead of the gallons that Hilary wore. He noticed he was staring at her, and looked at the school again.

Riley looked at the school too. "I don't like it here." She said. "I don't think you do either."

"Is it that obvisous?" He asked. He adjusted a bit on the branch.

Riley laughed. "A little." She said. She pushed her hair out of her face. "You come here a lot." She noted.

Adam looked at her again. "Are you stalking me?" He teased.

"You wish." She teased back. "I just happen to walk through this courtyard a lot at the same time that you are trying to get away from your clique."

"I'm not trying..." He tried to say, but couldn't lie to her for some reason. "Okay...The girls are sometimes a bit much to be around."

Riley laughed. "You said it...Not me." She then shifted to look the other direction. "Look...The view isn't so bad this way." She said.

Adam turned and looked the opposite way of school. He felt the wind blow his face, and looked at the view of the city. For the first time that day...He forgot everything, Hilary, hockey, his failing grades, everything. He was waiting for the cheesy music to finished the moment off.

Riley seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Makes you forget about everything else, huh?" She asked.

"Sure does." Adam said. He was still uncomfortably hot. Why was he so nervous talking to her though?

Riley sighed a moment later and looked back at Adam. "You sure I'm not intruding on your alone time?" She asked.

Adam shook his head. "Nah. It's okay." He said, then sat there a moment trying to think about something to say to her. "How...Do...I mean...Can you..." He shook his head, as Riley sat there, wondering that he was trying to say. "Do you ever get nervous about being thrown in the air?"

Riley smiled and shook her head. "No way. It's fun." She said. "I mean, pairs skating is a high risk sport, but I am an adrenaline junkie. I love doing that sort of stuff."

Adam halfway smiled. "Me too." He said.

Riley shook her head and smiled. "I could tell."

"How so?" He asked, almost challenged.

"Let's see...Adam Banks, what don't you do? You play hockey, drive fast cars, climb trees, skip class...Should I continue?" She asked.

Adam just laughed. "No thanks. Thats enough right there." He then decided to put her on the spot for a moment. "Wait, how did you know all that stuff?"

Riley shrugged. "I just notice things." She said. "I guess thats what the unpopular kids do."

"You're not..." Adam began to say.

"You didn't even know who I was until my sister said something." Riley interupted.

Adam nodded. "I know." He then laughed. "Nothing gets passed you does it?"

"Nope." Riley assured him.

Adam looked at her for a moment. And then burst out laughing.

"What?" Riley asked.

Adam was laughing so hard he couldn't tell her. The look on her face a few seconds ago was the same look that Hilary gave to people after she was told she was wrong about something. For some reason he always thought it was so funny, but could never laugh at it.

"You're crazy." Riley said in attempt to make him stop. But failed. Adam just kept laughing. Little to her knowledge, but the more she gave him a look like he was crazy, the more she looked like Hilary, and the more he laughed.

Riley sat there, watching Adam laugh, and finally gave in and started laughing with him. Riley was laughing at Adam and Adam continued to laugh because she had no idea why he was laughing and she looked like Hilary.

Finally, after the huge giggle fit that Adam had, he slowly stopped laughing due to the fact that his side was hurting so much. Tears had been welling in his eyes and finally one rolled down his cheek. He shook his head and looked at Riley again. "I'm sorry." He said.

Riley had already stopped laughing. "No problem..." She said. "I won't ask what that was about."

"That look was just so funny." Adam told her.

Riley gave him another confused look. But then dropped the subject. The bell rang to signal the end of the lunch period.

"Time to go." Riley said. "It was nice talking to you." She said as she began to climb down the tree. Adam followed her, smiling. It had been a long time since he actually enjoyed a conversation with someone, despite the fact that he made a complete idiot out of himself.

They two jumped down from the tree and landed in unison. Adam almost fell backwards since his side still hurt, but Riley grabbed onto his hand and pulled him back up right. Adam looked down at her hand holding onto his and tried his hardest not to smile. Riley suddenly let go and flipped her hair back.

"I have to go." She told him. Adam looked at her and noticed that she was blushing. He smiled to himself.

"Yeah, me too." Adam said. "Um...Thanks for the jacket." He said.

"No problem." Riley said as she smiled at him. "I'll see you around."

"See ya." Adam said as he then turned around to leave.

"Adam!..." Riley called.

Adam quickly turned around. "Something wrong?" He asked.

Riley shook her head. "No...But..." She then walked over to him and brushed the tears off of his cheeks. "No need to ruin your tough guy image." She told him. "I'll see you later." And with that, Riley ran off back to the school.

"Thanks." Adam called after her. He watched her run off and smiled. She was so...completely different from Hilary and all the other girls he hung out with.

Adam slowly walked into the building again. He took off the jacket and folded it over his arm. It would make a nice pillow for his next class.

The rest of the day went on as usual, he sat in class, went to hockey, and then hung out with Hilary and his friends until midnight. The only thing different was that instead of silently wishing that he could get away from the life he head, he kept thinking about Riley. He couldn't wait to go and see her at the rink or possibly at school.

* * *

Adam woke up on Saturday morning and hurried to the rink. He walked into the rink at 8:55, a half hour earlier than he was supposed to be there. He couldn't sleep the night before. All week he had been thinking about Riley and coulsn't wait to actually see and maybe talk to her.The whole weekwas weird for him. He wasn't thinking about how much he hated his life or wanting to bash his head into a wall every time he was with Hilary and her friends. Instead he just thought about Riley and what he could possibly talk to her about on Saturday morning. 

Adam looked around the arena. There were a lot of figure skaters walking around. One thing he never quite understood about figure skaters was why the girls always had to wear sparkly pink dresses all the time. Nothing had changed that at all. He saw three girls in pink dresses within the two seconds he looked through the arena. As usual there was a shortage of boys wearing figure skates. Adam shook his head as he thought about Shane and walked though the door to the coach's room. He opened the door and looked at the person sitting on the bench that he had been hoping to see. Riley.

Riley just looked up and smiled. "Hey Adam." She said.

Adam walked and set his bag on the bench across from her. He hoped he wasn't blushing, but had a feeling that he was. "Hi Riley." He said. He looked at her and her outfit. The exact opposite of all the little girls in the rink. She had on black aerobic pants and a blue sports bra tank top like thing. It was cute, and it didn't sparkle. He liked it.

"How are you?" Riley asked with her usual smile. "I didn't get a chance to talk to you again all week."

_"I know."_ Adam thought. But instead he said, "I've been...good."

"Thats great." She said. "What are you doing here so earlier?" She asked a moment later.

"I couldn't sleep...I thought I might as well just come in a little early. Since I was late last week and all." He said, afterall it was sort of the truth. He just left out the part of wanting to be there to see her.

"Gotcha." She said. "Well...I was just about to go to the rink to practice...So...I'll see you later."

"Okay." Adam said, not knowing anything else to say. "See you then." And then started to aimlessly look through his bag.

Riley stood at the door with her hand on it. Adam couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking. She then turned around and looked at her."Why don't you come with me?" She asked him.

"Huh?" Adam said aloud, that made Riley laugh.

"To practice I mean." Riley clarifed as she stood there.

"I can't do jumps and stuff." He said. "I'd feel out of place."

Riley shrugged. "Just hang with me." She said. "We can race or something. You know how to dodge other people on the ice don't you?"

"Yeah..." He said.

"So just throw on your skates and meet me at the barrier." She suggested.

Adam hesistated a moment. He didn't want to go out on the ice with all those figure skaters and have to avoid them. But at the same time, it was a chance to hang out with Riley. He stared at the floor a minute. "Sure." He said finally. Adam looked at Riley, who's smile was bigger than usual. He tried to use every ounce of self control to not smile back.

"Okay. Awesome." Riley said, still smiling. "Just meet me at the barrier."

Adam nodded. "See you then." Adam then watched as Riley left the coach's room. He then grabbed his skates out of his bag and put them on quickly. He sat there a second. Why was Riley being so nice to him? He basically ignored her the back three and half years years.

Adam brushed the thought out of his head. He didn't care. He waited all week to see Riley. Now he got to spend time with her...He wasn't going to spoil that. Not even Shane being on the ice could make him upset.

Adam pushed open the doors to the rink. He then walked around to the barrier. He scaned the ice; thankfully Shane was no where in sight. He saw Riley in the middle of the ice doing a sit spin. He stood at the barrier watching her. He stood there, as the other skaters looked at him like "What the hell are you doing here?" But he didn't care.

Riley looked up and smiled over at him. She skated towards Adam as he stepped onto the ice to meet her. She skated really fast towards him, but then stopped and sprayed him with ice. "Hey." She said in a flirtly voice.

"I knew you were going to do that." Adam teased her. He himself did that to everyone he went skating with. He had done that trick for years and scared the hell out of a ton of people while doing it. He smiled to himself at the thought of her flirting with him though.

"Oh really?" She asked. "Well come on Hockey Boy. Lets see how well you can skate."

Adam smirked. "Fine little miss Ice Princess." He said. "Oh and by the way..." He then smacked her shoulder. "Tag...your it!" He said as he then darted away from her. He looked back to see Riley laughed as she chased him around the rink.

* * *

Oo lala. Riley and Adam are now talking. What happens? And...what is the secret? (I stand by my word...This is not a Mary Sue story...and the secret will be revealed...Soon. Promise!) Anyway...I'll update soon. But while I'm gone...Leave comment and love. haha. Later. 


End file.
